My Road to Optimum Health

How it started:
I have always tried to follow the trends on the different ways to stay healthy. The trends for me, started in college when all my fellow students were drinking Slimfast to lose weight. 

That was my introduction to what it means to be healthy. I had gained the “Freshman Fifteen” and just followed this new found method of drinking my meals. I lost some weight but inevitably started feeling sick and gained it all back. I then followed the “Low Fat/No Fat” diet.

I exercised daily. I was obsessed with fat grams and calories. I did lose weight but it was something I had to work hard at. I thought eating cereal was good for me because it had just a few to no grams of fat and I didn’t have to cook it, so I ate it all the time.

I ate sandwiches with wheat bread and low fat Oreos. I didn’t think sugar was fattening or bad for you because it had no fat grams. I had no idea even what carbs meant.  I  ate very little vegetables and salads seeing as the low fat dressings that were offered had a very artificial taste.

Eight years later:
Finally, after 8 years of trying to follow everything in order to lose weight which I thought was how to be healthy, I found the book “Eight Weeks to Optimum Health” by Dr. Andrew Weil. It changed my life. In this book, I learned  the research behind healthy eating and what healthy living really meant.

Dr. Weil emphasized organic vegetables (never knew what organic meant and I didn’t cook), shopping at a health food store, practicing meditation and breath work.

Each week we added a few new things to eat and activities to do. It was then I realized health had to do with lifestyle and balance of mind, body and spirit and not about just getting on a strict diet and doing exercise to lose weight.

He also encouraged reading inspirational books. I couldn’t get enough of what I was reading. I began to see and experience the world with such fullness and optimism.

How yoga changed my life
As exercise, he recommended yoga. I didn’t know many places where you could go at the time. I knew of a place that had the word “Yoga” on the building and I thought that was the place I needed to go. I didn’t know there were different types of yoga,. I thought yoga was just yoga. I was not prepared for my first experience.

Little did I know I was walking into one of the most intense yogas for beginners, Bikram Yoga.  The room was so hot (105 degrees) and people were moving into these difficult postures so easily and then holding themselves in them for what seemed like an eternity.  I left that class thinking I wasn’t going back, the people were crazy and that I would never be able to do what the other people were doing.

And then a strange thing happened.  I was sitting at home, recuperating, when I suddenly felt a sensation that was so different, so surprising and so exciting. This was the first time in my life that I felt perfect. i felt perfect! Physically, mentally, spiritually I felt better then I had felt in my entire life. From that moment on, I knew that was how I wanted to feel for the rest of my life. I went three to four times a week and in no time I was moving in and out of the poses with the best of them. I felt so connected and felt inspired during every class.

My calling
My goal is to always to return to this state of optimal health and to help others to have that same experience. It was transformational and freeing. I found that this feeling existed where I never knew it was possible.  I understand each person is unique and what works for one person may not work for another. My goal is to find the formula that works for you to feel that optimal feeling of wellness mind, body and spirit. I want to help you feel perfect!